INTEGRATED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Land, vegetation and fresh and salt-water systems are linked so closely that solutions to challenges inevitably involve more than one organisation, landowner or industry. Effective management of issues depends on an integrated, coordinated and strategic approach to NRM. Better integration clarifies lines of responsibility, reduces duplication, minimises wasted effort and maximises the effectiveness of what is done by making best use of limited resources.

Better integration and coordination are necessary at a number of levels:

• Between regions: the Southern NRM Region shares water catchments and bioregions with both the Northern and Cradle Coast NRM regions
• Between private and public natural resource managers, industry and business
• Between people affected by decisions and the decision makers
• Between levels of government and between government departments
• Between Local Government authorities

It is an important aim of the Southern NRM Strategy to build on the existing excellent work being conducted by stakeholders, and build partnerships
to address NRM issues. Voluntary involvement by stakeholders is essential for effective achievement
of the Strategy’s targets.

In addressing human impacts on natural resources, social and economic factors must be considered, not just environmental ones. The effects on individuals, local communities and industries of protecting or improving the environment by changing the way natural resources are used must also be taken

into account. Environmental improvement will not happen if the social and/or economic costs are too high. The community as a whole, and individual resource managers, must accept trade-offs to ensure the highest value resources are protected and negative impacts are contained.

The Southern NRM Strategy will:

• Provide focus and direction for NRM in the Southern Region, through the establishment of Resource Condition Targets
• Coordinate NRM better, without creating additional layers of bureaucracy
• Build on existing and prior work, & support existing local, catchment & coastal organisations in implementing and further developing their plans, policies & strategies, to address the Region’s Resource Condition Targets
• Clarify roles and responsibilities
• Create partnerships to address common issues
• Put in place processes to: ensure policies, planning frameworks and decision-making settings support NRM principles and have no unintended consequences
• Ensure people responsible for addressing a problem have the capacity to do so
• Build community awareness of the need for change and ability to participate in the change process
• Get as many results on the ground as possible
• Establish a benchmarking, monitoring and evaluation system to tell us whether our actions are effective, and a process for review and adaptive management of the Strategy over time

For more details please see Chapter 4: Integrated Natural Resource Management of the Strategy.